Friday 18th March 2016

Fixing F1 Cars - Yr4 Trip to Kidszania

This week has been another extremely busy week for pupils and staff! The children have benefited from a range of fun and educational trips to Kidszania, the Chiltern Open Air Museum and the Hillingdon Outdoor Activities Centre (HOAC). Our school football team have had a fantastic season and progressed to the semi-finals of the Primary Schools’ League on Monday. On Tuesday, Early Years performed their assembly for the whole school - teaching us lots about what it means to be a good friend. Thanks to all the parents, carers and family members who came to watch – it was an amazing turn out of visitors!

Mayor Visit

Next Monday, we will be visited by the Mayor of Hillingdon (Councillor George Cooper) who will lead an assembly with the whole school and then answer any questions the children may have. Please keep an eye on our website, for lots of photographs from the visit.

Film and TV Workshops

Last Friday, we were visited by ‘MN Academy of Film and Theatre’. MN provides sessions for children - focusing on Film & TV, Theatre and Dance & Vocals. They ran 30 minute Film & TV workshops with all year groups, where pupils worked both in front and behind the camera to create fun promotional clips about our school. MN have invited all pupils to attend a FREE OPEN DAY on Saturday 16th April in Windsor, where your child will get to experience a taster session in Film and TV, Theatre and Dance. If you would like to attend please visit the following website:

The last session for Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) took place yesterday. Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6 pupils) will have one more session next Wednesday 23rd March.

Chelsea Football Club

Reminder: the last sessions, for both Key Stage 1 and 2, took place this week.

Years 1 and 2 Trip

Years 1 and 2 will be going on a trip to the Chiltern Open Air Museum, on Tuesday 22nd March. Children should be dressed in their PE kit and wear a coat. Please provide a packed lunch if you have not ordered a packed lunch from our caterers. Children will also need a named backpack.

Summer Fete

This year our summer fete will be on Saturday 25th June 12noon -3pm. Please put the date in your diary. We are really looking forward to an afternoon where parents, children and teachers can join together for lots of fun whilst earning funds for the school. There will be a meeting after the Easter holidays to welcome volunteers to help with the organisation of our main fundraiser of the year. In the meantime we really need the support of parents who work for companies who, as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility Policy (CSR), can offer profit-matching schemes. These schemes can hugely boost the profits of the event, these profits are all passed onto the children to ensure they have an innovative and enhanced learning environment at St Mary's. Please email Sarah Wells and Sue Serret at stmaryspta@outlook.com if you can help with profit matching or asking your company to donate the main raffle prizes. Many thanks.

Year 4 Class Assembly

Next Tuesday 22nd March, Year 4 will perform their class assembly for the rest of the school, parents, carers and family members. The main entrance will be opened, shortly before 3pm, for all visitors to make their way to the hall. This will be a special celebration of the Year of Mercy.

End of Term Mass

On Wednesday 23rd March, the whole school (excluding Nursery/LEYs pupils) will walk to Church to celebrate the end of this term. We will leave school at 9.10am – if you are able to help accompany the children, to and from Church, please let your child’s class teacher know as soon as possible. Thank you.

Early Bird – Last Day Today

The last session of Mrs Sullivan’s RM Easimaths group took place today. We will analyse the results from our recent maths tests, and will invite a new selection of children to attend a revised group after the Easter break.

Parents’ Evenings

Our next Parents’ Evenings will take place on Tuesday 19th and Thursday 21st April. This will be a good opportunity to discuss the results from our recent Test Week and to share planned targets and support for next term. A letter will be sent home, on the first day back after the Easter break, inviting parents/carers to request an appointment time.

Fundraising for the school

We are very grateful for the donation from Siemens via Mrs Childs of 600 sunflower seeds. The children will be given the opportunity to grow a sunflower. We would ask for any donations of flower pots, seedtrays and potting compost to assist with this project. To raise funds for the school we are asking for a donation of £1 from each child as we do with own clothes day. You will appreciate with current educational budgets in schools being very tight how we rely on such donations from parents and local businesses.

As previously notified we are collecting unwanted clothing, linen, bedding, curtains, bags, belts and paired shoes for recycling to raise funds for resources in school. Bags will be sent home next week for the holidays and we ask you to return them promptly on Monday 11th April as the recycling company will be collecting these on the Tuesday. We are unable to take bags before then as we are very limited on storage space. Not only does this initiative give the school extra funds but it also gives the pupils an awareness of saving our planet.

This term ends next Thursday 24th March, at the earlier time of 1.30pm. We hope you have a lovely Easter and a restful break. We look forward to welcoming pupils back to school on Monday 11th April (at 8.40am).

Please note: Mrs Sullivan’s current (8.30am) RM Easimaths group has now finished.

Upcoming Diary Dates

For a complete list of dates, please view the Calendar on our school website.